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Monday, 23 May 2016

Pork Loin Stuffed with Spinach & Mushrooms

Here is a rather glamourous dish but very simple to make. By far the most laborious part is preparing the spinach. I've actually been making this fairly regularly throughout the past winter, using my own frozen spinach which really made it a cinch.

This is an excellent dish for entertaining, especially as you could prepare it a few hours in advance and keep it in the fridge until the right time to cook it. In that case I would add another 5 minutes or so to the cooking time, but then there is nothing to do but put it in, take it out, slice, and serve. Very low stress to wow-factor ratio.

Wash and pick over the spinach, discarding any bad bits or tough stems. Drain well, chop, and steam until just limp. Let it cool enough to handle, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can from it, and chop it well.

Clean and chop the mushrooms fairly finely - I slice them one way, then turn and slice the other way. Peel and mince the shallots and the garlic.

Heat the bacon fat in a medium skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the shallots until just soft. Add the mushrooms, and cook until they too are softened and reduced. Stir often. Add the garlic and seasonings, and stir for a minute more. Mix in the bread crumbs and the chopped cooked spinach, and remove the pan from the heat. Let cool enough to handle.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cut the pork loin with a large, sharp knife along the long side, working about 1" from the outside of the roast, to create a spiral cut that opens the loin into a flattenable oval. Lay 3 pieces of kitchen twine on the board you are working on, and lay the roast on top of them so the roast is longest up and down, and the strings run horizontally under it at even intervals. Pile the filling over the loin, covering it to within about an inch of each side. Use the strings to tie it closed into a neat sausage shape. If the long ends are a little pointy, it may be possible to tuck them up to be tied in place - a good thing if so.

Place the stuffed and tied pork loin into a fairly snug roasting dish, and pour the water, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar over it. Sprinkle it with a little paprika. Roast for 40 to 45 minutes at 350°F, then remove the pork loin from the oven, cover it, and let it sit for about 10 minutes before carving and discarding the strings. Once the loin is sliced into serving portions, drizzle any liquid remaining in the roasting pan over them.